Equality In Sports

“ No person… shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination” ( Wong). Within sports, many females get discriminated due to being “weak” or less interesting to watch. Some get less pay for having not equal amounts of participation as men do. The main issues are whether or not females and men should receive equal pay grade and whether if one does not participate as much which should they get the same attention. Equal pay grade may determine whether females play just as much as men and participate. Sports should not be based on whether you are more interested in girls or guys sports; it should be based on which sport brings in more revenue and has the most participation

Although over time gender discrimination has grown progressively over the years, one place that gender inequality is not fully present is in the sports world. Gender inequality in sports has been an issue in the industry for centuries. For years and years women faced the issues of lower pay, not as much publicity and not being appreciated as a female athlete. Clearly, even in this prevalent era of alleged equality and impartiality, most sports still remains as a male dominion, as there still is an unnoticed barrier between sport and woman. Through this analysis, I wanted to investigate some of the initial causes for the above circumstances.

It is evident that equality and equity between genders, males and females, has had its struggles. This struggle to promote fairness has been expressed through various mouvements such as from the suffragettes emerging in the late 20th and early 21st century, and the recent He for She movement to bring both genders to work together as one. Despite these efforts, in the hockey world, male domination inhibits female athletic success to reach such high level. This is displayed through history, funds and media.

It is an imperative matter that we take a look at the impact of Title IX on sports as well as why it should be viewed from a multidimensional perspective. Women’s opportunities for competitive physical activity were restricted in America up until Federal Legislation, commonly referred to as Title IX, which later became law. It required American society to recognize a woman’s right to participate in sports on a plane equivalent to that of men. Prior to 1870, activities for women were recreational rather than sport-specific in nature. They were informal, noncompetitive, rule-less; they emphasized physical activity rather than competition. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, women began to form clubs that were athletic in nature. Efforts to limit women’s sport activity continued as they became more involved in competitive sports. Most of the research presented on the history of women’s involvement in sport prior to the federal legislation was bias until the Title IX was enacted to eliminate sexual discrimination in education and sport.

“I wonder how many times a Tom Brady is asked about how handsome he is, or J.J. Watt... it’s something that us female athletes have to deal with all the time,”(Hatch.) quoted by the famous Delle Donne of the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) Chicago Sky. Delle Donne is one of the many female athletes, who endure sexism in sports today. Today in society, people still struggle with the idea of females being involved in sports. Sexism is “ the unfair treatment of people because of their sex; especially : unfair treatment of women” (Sexism.) Many would agree that watching an all female athletic game, is not as entertaining as an all male athletic game. Men believe women are incompetent when it comes to sports talk. During a sports conversation, women tend to get ignored

Gender Inequality in sports is an issue as old as sport itself. I choose this topic because we as a society seem to sweep it under the rug time after time. Women in sports however, try to address the issue only to have it go on deaf ears, leaving them to continue in the sport hoping something will change. Over the last few decades, strides have been made, but he sport remains an institution dominated by men. These women, whether they are in sport or in the business world, want a fair chance to be on the same level as their male counterparts. If society stops to understand the struggles these women have been facing for decades will have a clearer picture of what steps to take in order to make a change in the sports industry. Men need to put their masculinity aside and advocate giving women a voice. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues women in the sport world have faced through history, wage gaps, current issues today, and to discuss findings and recommendations for future research.

“You hit like a girl”. This statement connotates women being the weaker sex which summarizes what gender discrimination in sports is. Dictionary-wise, it is the discrimination of one’s athletic abilities based on their gender. It is seen in every sport at any country around the world. Both men and women are victims of this but research proves that when are those who are mostly affected. Women receive less recognition than men and are classified as weak. Women too are called “tomboy” for joining a stereotypical male’s sport or for joining any sport in general. With that said, it also prevents people from discovering their true passion for the fear of society’s perception. Since gender discrimination in sports foes not give men and women equal rights and opportunities, promoting sports without gender divisions will lessen this.

Women have come a long way in the fight for equality – in the 1970s women fought for things like equal pay and equal opportunities in the workplace, yet this is still an issue today. This is even relevant to sport as sportsmen earn more than sportswomen for doing the same job. For years’ gender inequality has plagued professional sports, with people suggesting women’s sport is of a lower quality and women will never be as good as their male counterparts.

In the article titled Face-off on the playing field By, Judith B. Stamper explains girls have their own story of support or discrimination, success also the debate of girls be allowed to compete on boys’ sports team. First, the writer Title IX explains female athletes are been treated second-class for long enough and should pass of inequalities and biases of girls. The writer also clarifies that girls doing sports make them healthier, physically, and emotionally. Other girls that don’t play sports are less likely to use of drugs. In addition, she notes a former Stanford University basketball player Mariah says, strength and independence of things girls learn from sports, the opportunities that are changing women.

People used strong effort to keep women’s sports limited when they wanted to be competitive; that wouldn’t last long (Bell). Women took part in the Olympics of 1900 for the first time. Only 22 women competed and were permitted to participate in golf and tennis (Feminist Majority Foundation). Later in the 1920’s a very stereotypical view was developed towards women and their desire to participate in sports. Their participation became “unfeminine” and “selfish”, and not to mention the fact that all athletic women were accused of lesbianism (Bell).

Sports have always been a male dominate sport, especially in schools. It took many years of schooling and fighting for females to be able to participate in sports and have equal education opportunities. “The passage of Title IX, the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act, expanded high school athletic opportunities to include girls, revolutionizing mass sports participation in the United States (Rammell, 2014, pg. 136).” Since the legislation, Title IX was passed, sports offerings for boys and girls has changed. Title IX has created many opportunities for girls and young women today since it began 40 years ago. Although Title IX is best known for sports and athletics, is about much more! It also opens the gate for girls to pursue math and science, requires fair treatment for pregnant and parenting students, and protects students for sexual harassment. Over the years title IX has helped females in sports; sadly, there are still educational barriers and discrimination of gender in schools off of the playing field. Despite Title IX 's prohibition against sex discrimination, there are schools across the country that still show signs of discrimination

Imagine finally having the sport you are most passionate about available for you to participate in, yet not being able to compete in it simply because you are not of the correct gender. Nowadays, this is a fairly common issue. Whether it is because of both gender differences or due to the common belief that “boys are stronger than girls”, coeducation exercise is not exceedingly popular. Although many people believe males are stronger than females and think that coed sports are unfair, this type of athletics can benefit all athletes in multiple ways because it will allow both genders to work together more efficiently, allow the participants and sponsors to pay less, and help create connections with others that would not originally be made.

However, some could say that wage equality is a bad thing because it will cost too much. Women athletes should be paid the same as men athletes. If women are paid the same they will be treated the same. “The International Cricket Council funded all the men's teams to fly business class but, only paid for the women’s teams to fly economy class”(Wigmore).

This pay difference can discourage the girls that want to become professional athletes. Thus, limiting the sports available for women to play and places to play in. Professional female athletes should be paid the same amount as professional male athletes because women should have equal representation and pay as the men, women are just as successful in sports as the men, and the best players are getting paid by foreign leagues to not

Guys and girls should be able to play the same sports and have the same opportunities as each other because we need equal chance, multiple sports, and better rules. In schools, there is many different types of sports. There’s basketball, football, volleyball, baseball, track and many more. One thing that most of these sports have in common is that they are girls only and boys only sports.